THE WORLD OUTDOORS - The best trail you've never heard of

Posted 2/24/19

Imagine a trail across the Palmetto State, from mountains to sea.                                    Over …

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THE WORLD OUTDOORS - The best trail you've never heard of

Posted

Imagine a trail across the Palmetto State, from mountains to sea.                                    Over rolling hills and tumbling falls, down to mysterious swamps and open marshes. Over 450 miles of trail across our beautiful, diverse state. Connecting parks of all kinds, rural to urban.         At least that’s the dream, and it’s getting pretty close. 
   Today, I’m just going to focus on one small section: The Peak to Prosperity Passage.
   “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but that was the best trail I’ve ever hiked!” 
   That’s what my grandpa, Chuck McCurry, from the Lexington County Chronicle’s Church Buzz column, and I said after hiking about 5 miles on the Peak to Prosperity section of the Palmetto Trail. 
   The name lies a little. The section only makes it about half way to Prosperity and is only 10.8 miles long.
The early February morning was beyond perfect. It was nearly 70 degrees with a slight breeze, all without a cloud in sight.  My grandpa picked me up right around 10 am that morning, so it was still a little chilly. We made the quick trip to downtown Peak, about 30 minutes away. 
There wasn’t much to see. It was just a short, open main street with woods on 1 side and 3 quaint buildings. A pharmacy/general store, the post office, and a fire station on the other side. Then again, Peak is one of the smallest towns in S.C. with a population of only 66.
We parked across the street, right next to the short ramp connecting the trail to Main Street. Right there is the crown jewel of the section, a 1,100-foot long trestle spanning the Broad River. The historic abandoned trestle, built in 1904, was repurposed to a pedestrian bridge with handrails and a wooden floor installed. We hiked across the bridge and I took plenty of pictures.  
On the other side is the official trailhead and a small park underneath the bridge. It was perfect with plenty of shade, benches to sit on, and great for fishing. We made our way back to the car to go get some lunch. We had driven about 30 minutes to get our daily dose of Bojangles, but boy was it worth it.        Let me tell you a little about the trail. The Palmetto Conservation bought 10.8 miles of an abandoned railroad owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad. A generous grant from the South Carolina Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Tourism allowed volunteers  to convert the old railbed into a perfect, wide, multi-purpose trail. 
   Nineteen historic trestles were converted to safe bridges across Crims Creek. The Creek runs parallel to the trail for most of the section. The first 6.5 miles in between Peak and Pomaria, another tiny town, opened in 2009. The other 4.4 miles from Pomaria past I-26 opened in 2011.            Back to us. We wanted to hike a section of the trail so we started at the Pomaria Trailhead, the halfway mark of the section. We parked in an open lot behind the main gas station in town. A board give a history of the trail and continuing behind the gas station after a gate, the trail disappears off into the woods, eventually leading back to Peak.
In the Other direction across the highway, the trail leads to Interstate 26. That’s where we’re headed about 2.5 miles away. Right away, we noticed how soft the trail was. It looked like the trail had mulch put on it a couple of years ago and it really helped with our knees. At first, I didn’t think I’d like the open, straight trail but I quickly grew to like it. The trail was so perfectly straight that after 20 minutes of hiking, we could still look back and see the car’s glare. 
I had to stop at every bridge to take pictures. Well, I pretty much just stopped everywhere to take pictures. 
We crossed a road about a mile and a half into the trail that offered a beautiful view of a country road rolling into the valley below. We met several very friendly couples on our way to I-26. The trail continues straight under I-26 for around another mile and a half to a dead end but we figured it was about time to turn around. 
We hiked the 2 1/2 miles back at a leisurely pace and really enjoyed it. 
   Finally we made it back to the car around 4:15 pm. It was time to head back home.
All together we hiked about five miles but it sure didn’t feel like it.  It took us about three hours to do but we are very slow hikers, preferring to enjoy the trail. We hope to come back very soon to hike lots more. 
   The trail is just 30 minutes from Lexington and the perfect trail to hike or bike. Make sure to bring the whole family, even your dogs will enjoy this trail. If not to hike, just come visit the historic trestle with it’s gorgeous views of the Broad River. 
   Learn more at palmettoconservation.org/passage/peak-to-prosperity-passage. 

   The monthly World Outdoors is written by Cole Stilwell, a 10th grader at Gray Collegiate Academy and the Chronicle’s electronics and social media intern.

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